FLINT, MI – A way of raising food with fish farms and gardens nourishing each other could bring self-sustaining, locally-grown products to Flint-area neighborhoods, farmer markets, stores and restaurants through a unique project.

It's a big goal, but it would make a great impact, said Ravi Yalamanchi, CEO of Metro Community Development.

Metro Community Development, a program that helps disadvantaged youth obtain an education and job training, is partnering with Kettering University to create an aquaponics farm, which would put a fish tank on the bottom with a soil bed that has produce growing on the top of the tank.

The system works with waste from the garden used as food for the fish and the water in the fish tank pumped to the plants. After the water is cleaned through the garden, it is recycled back into the fish tank.

"The potential is enormous," Yalamanchi said. "This does not have to be only perfected by us. We can replicate this in neighborhoods. They can grow the food either to be a small micro business or just to have the food."

Kettering students, as part of Kettering's Center for Culminating Undergraduate Experiences Interdisciplinary Senior Capstone Design course, will design and oversee construction of the system, with labor provided by students in Metro Community Development's Youthbuild program.

Research was done by nine Kettering students. A prototype was created in the spring. Later in the summer, a pilot program with more aquaponics systems will be built in a garage at the Metro Community Development building, where they will test temperature control and technology to check on the systems.

The final product will bring a green, local source of fresh food to residents of the Flint area, said Matthew Sanders, Kettering University professor of industrial engineering and director of the Center for Culminating Undergraduate Experiences.

Aquaponics helps eliminate waste, since the water is recycled. It brings healthy food to people who don't have to worry about where it's from, and it would be reasonably priced, Sanders said.

"This is something that I feel our society really needs our help with," Sanders said. "The result will be some sort of food that will help the city.

"Bringing employment for a desperate city like Flint (would be a big benefit)."

Kettering students will study the cost efficiency and feasibly for systems like this.

Metro Community Development and Kettering officials are working on getting grants to renovate the garage and buy the necessary equipment for the aquaponics farms.

Sanders said it will cost about $25,000 for research and possibility another $50,000 for supplies and construction.

The project will include designing system components such as tanks, beds, pipes and computer monitoring equipment for remote operation.

The bigger goal, if the project is successful, is to move a larger aquaponics farm to the site of the former Flint Farmers' Market, sell produce at farmers markets and possibly bring locally grown produce to local restaurants and grocery stores, Yalamanchi said.

Sanders said the project designers want to see it expanded by the summer of 2015.

Dick Ramsdell, Flint Farmers' Market manager, said an aquaponics farm was one of the possibilities discussed for the old market property.

He said is open to conversations to see what can happen with the YouthBuild and Kettering project.

"I will tell you it is definitely a possibility. It's one that we pursued even almost as soon as the conversation got started about the new market," Ramsdell said. "What a better idea than to put in a growing system in there that could work indoors?"

There's real potential to create something positive in that space, he said.

Ramsdell said he applauds the efforts of Kettering and YouthBuild with this project.

"What I'm hoping that our new market just becomes an engine for all kinds of new opportunities around creating good food and local food for the people."

This could not only create jobs but offer opportunities to bring this system to local neighborhoods, he said. The hope is to help teach residents how to create the system, minimize infrastructure and make it as economical as possible through grants.

"This idea, it's not a new idea. (Our plan) is just to make it more economical for them," Yalamanchi said. "It's really exciting for us."

If the aquaponics system proves successful, Sanders said they will seek a much larger grant of around $800,000 to provide 40 jobs to keep a large-scale aquaponics farm operational and grow produce ready to sell.

Frank Gublo, innovation counselor for Michigan State University product center and extension educator for MSU extension, said aquaculture is starting to gain a lot of interest.

"It's an emerging line of business that has a lot of upsides," Gublo said. "It's not well-established, but there's a lot of interest in it."

There are a few small business operations with aquaponics farms around the Detroit area, Gublo said, but there is potential out there for more to emerge.

And it would have benefits for a community as whole, he said.

"I think there's a lot of room for innovation. ... And there's lots of room, I think, for Michigan manufacturing businesses and other farming businesses to cooperate and collaborate with other farming operations. I think it's a big opportunity for a place like Flint."

It's an exciting movement to see in urban areas, Gublo said.

"Resources are scarce. There's climate change issues that are driving people to be more conscious of their water use. There's more concern of conservation of wild fish in the oceans. So the idea of aquaculture is to come in and basically raise fish for protein to supplement ocean-caught fish," he said. "The world is becoming an urbanized place. ... How do you feed those populations and how do you feed them locally?

Learning experience

The aquaponics process is also learning project for Kettering students and Metro Community Development's YouthBuild participants.

The YouthBuild program is funded by the U.S. Department of Labor to provide disadvantaged youth, ages 18-24, with education, job training, and employment opportunities. Since it started six years ago, 220 YouthBuild participants have graduated from the program.

Roughly five to 10 YouthBuild participants will help on the aquaponics project.

Those who are in the YouthBuild program don't have a high school diploma or a GED. The program helps the low-income young adults with academic support to obtain their GED and job-readiness skills focused on the construction trades.

For Kettering students, it's a way for them to use their engineering skills and apply them to a real-world situation, Sanders said. They are able to use engineering to help modernize aquaponics farming, keep costs down and help the community, he said.

Students working on the project are divided into three groups: construction, ecology study and electronic work, which included creating an app to monitor the systems from mobile devices.

"We like our students to think outside the box," Sanders said.

Jeanette Smith, a Kettering student working on her thesis, is one part of the team working on the aquaponics farming system.

With the aquaponics system, cost for transportation of produce and the use of fertilizers is eliminated, she said. There is no waste in regards to cleaning out the fish tank, either, since everything is recycled to help farm the fish and produce, said Smith, 36, of Durand.

"That's the exciting thing about it, making everything work together that is waste-free that is economically sustainable," she said. "Now we're eliminating all of that (waste) plus we are able to grow a lot more produce in a smaller area."